What is a disease modifying antirheumatic drug?

The disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are distinct from the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) in their slow onset of antiinflammatory action, their lack of analgesic properties, their more frequent and severe toxicity, and in the opinion of some experts, their ability to produce more frequent remissions and slow the progression of erosions. New DMARD prospects include less toxic immune modulating agents, as well as NSAID/DMARD hybrids. Although currently available DMARD are considered primarily treatment for RA, sulfasalazine may be such a drug for B27 arthropathies as well. Future studies may lead to the development of agents that are specific modifiers of other rheumatic diseases, including lupus and scleroderma.